Hydrologically induced landslides are a new normal in the Nilgiris nowadays. The annual average rainfall for the district for an entire year is 2500 mm. Downpours in 2009 and in 2019 recorded half of that with just a week of rains.
The India Meteorological Department had forecasted a nearly similar rainfall event in August 2020 with high-intensity rainfall. As predicted, the Western parts of the district experienced heavy rainfall, accompanied by heavy wind. Over 200 tree falls were recorded across the district.
A team from Keystone set out to inventory, record, and document the landslides across different parts of the district. The transects chosen were – Ooty – Kotagiri; Ooty – Kookalthorai; Ooty – Avalanche and Ooty – Gudalur highways. In a week long field recording, the team inventoried around 250 landslides which were small, medium and large in size (mostly on the roadsides).
The team is yet to complete the inventory process, there are more transects to be covered to get a representative figure for the district – for one monsoon or one rainfall event. The data collected will be shared with the Geological Survey of India, which will then be uploaded to the national database on landslides.
By Gokul Halan
